- Former Obama adviser Stuart Seldowitz in custody after halal cart confrontation, NYPD opens hate crime investigation WABC-TV
- Video shows former State Department official harassing NYC halal cart vendor NBC News
- Former Obama administration official arrested after video shows Islamophobic language spewed at food vendor CNN
- Ex-Obama aide Stuart Seldowitz charged with hate crime as NYC halal cart vendor says he wants to sue for hate speech, harassment New York Post
- The New Yorker Who Confronted Stuart Seldowitz, Ex-Obama Advisor Caught Harassing Food Vendor The Daily Beast
Tag Archives: adviser
Israel’s responsibility is to ‘keep civilian deaths at a minimum,’ says senior adviser to Netanyahu – NBC News
- Israel’s responsibility is to ‘keep civilian deaths at a minimum,’ says senior adviser to Netanyahu NBC News
- Israel is ‘losing a lot of support’ internationally because of the mounting death toll in Gaza NBC News
- Kornacki on 2024 Senate map: ‘Not a stretch to say’ Republicans very likely to get West Virginia NBC News
- Full Panel: The Senate is ‘a real issue’ for Democrats as Sen. Manchin bows out NBC News
- Biden announced four-hour pauses in Gaza as a way to ‘pressure’ Netanyahu, Monica Alba says NBC News
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Israel-Hamas War LIVE: Netanyahu adviser says Israel ready if Hezbollah `crazy enough to start war` – WION
- Israel-Hamas War LIVE: Netanyahu adviser says Israel ready if Hezbollah `crazy enough to start war` WION
- As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel’s targeting process The Washington Post
- Israel-Hamas War | UN loses 88 Staffers In Israel’s Gaza Onslaught; ‘This Must Stop Now…’ Hindustan Times
- UNRWA Situation Report #22 on the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (all information valid as of 3-4 November 2023 at 18:00 local time) – occupied Palestinian territory ReliefWeb
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Netanyahu’s New Media Adviser Said ‘Unfit’ Biden ‘Destroying America,’ Echoed Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims – Israel News – Haaretz
- Netanyahu’s New Media Adviser Said ‘Unfit’ Biden ‘Destroying America,’ Echoed Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims – Israel News Haaretz
- Biden administration ramps up political disagreements with Israel, creating new Mideast headaches Fox News
- Netanyahu’s new media adviser has peddled 2020 US election falsehoods The Times of Israel
- Israel’s Netanyahu appoints new media adviser, journalist who had called Biden ‘unfit,’ report says The Washington Post
- Israel’s PM Netanyahu appoints new media adviser, journalist who had called Biden “unfit”, report says The Hindu
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US would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories rather than letting them fall into China’s hands, a former national security adviser says – Yahoo Finance
- US would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories rather than letting them fall into China’s hands, a former national security adviser says Yahoo Finance
- US would destroy Taiwan chip factories to avoid China capture: advisor Business Insider
- Taiwan’s dominance of the chip industry makes it more important | Mint Mint
- US would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories rather than letting them fall into China’s hands, a former national security advisor says Yahoo News
- US would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor factories rather than letting them fall into China’s hands, a former n Business Insider India
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Russia Holds 3,000 POWs, Zelenskiy Adviser Says
(Bloomberg) — An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had confirmed that it was holding more than 3,000 prisoners of war. She added that 15,000 people were missing, many of them civilians.
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Russia unleashed one of the most intense missile barrages of the war, targeting major Ukrainian cities including the capital, Kyiv, and Lviv in the west near Poland.
Of 69 cruise missiles launched by Kremlin forces from strategic bombers and ships in the Black Sea, 54 were shot down by air-defense systems, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s army commander-in-chief. In a separate incident, Belarus said its air defense shot down a Ukrainian anti-air rocket over its territory.
The US is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a further package of military support, according to people familiar with the matter.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
Key Developments
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Russia Fires Heavy Salvo on Ukraine, Ruling Out Peace Talks
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Belarus Says Its Air Defense Shot Down Ukrainian Missile
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European Gas Rebounds Amid Mixed Weather Forecasts for January
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Russian Tycoon Urges Africa to Press EU on Fertilizer Snarl
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Ship Insurers’ Exodus From Russia-Ukraine Trades Gathering Pace
On the Ground
Overnight, Russian forces hit energy infrastructure in Kharkiv with Iranian-made Shahed drones, killing one person, Ukrainian officials said, adding that air-defense forces shot down 11 Iranian-made drones. Several buildings, a gas pipeline and a power line were damaged in an attack on the Zaporizhzhia suburbs, Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor, said on Telegram. Three Russian missile carriers are now on combat duty in the Black Sea, according to a statement from the Ukrainian southern command.
(All times CET)
15,000 People Missing, Zelenskiy Adviser Says (12 a.m.)
Aliona Verbytska, an adviser to Zelenskiy, said Russia had confirmed that it was holding more than 3,000 prisoners of war. She said 15,000 people were missing, many of them civilians.
Verbytska, in her capacity as ombudsperson for the rights of Ukrainian soldiers, underscored the discrepancy between the number of confirmed POWs and the number still missing.
“We do not know what happened to them. Whether they are also Russian prisoners of war, have been taken from Russian-occupied territories or possibly killed,” Verbytska said. She assailed what she called the “very poor” cooperation of Russian agencies, with regards to dealing with prisoners of war.
US Considers Sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles (7:54 p.m.)
The US government is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine as part of a further package of military support, according to people familiar with the matter.
A final decision hasn’t yet been made, one of the people said. When the vehicles would be operational is also unclear, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
“Bradleys would provide a major increase in ground combat capability because it is, in effect, a light tank,” said Mark Cancian, a former White House defense budget analyst who’s now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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Ukraine Says Russia May Have Staged Provocation in Belarus (6:47 p.m.)
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that the reported shootdown of a rocket over Belarus may have been “a deliberate provocation made by Russia.”
“Ukraine is aware of the Kremlin’s desperate and persistent efforts to involve Belarus in its aggressive war against Ukraine,” the ministry said in the statement on its website. It said Ukraine is “ready to conduct an objective investigation of the incident.”
Earlier, Belarus’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym to voice a protest against what the country’s authorities say was the launch of an air defense missile toward Belarus.
Ukrainian Energy System Being Restored After Attack (5:42 p.m.)
Ukraine’s energy network, which suffered new damage after a Russian missile barrage on Thursday, is being repaired as planned, grid operator CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on TV.
“A significant part of the generating capacity has already been restored, but there is damage to the network,” Kudrytskyi said, adding that some sites had been hit as many as eight times. “No matter how many times Russia strikes, we are restoring facilities.”
Kudrytskyi also said his company, Ukrenergo, would receive a 70 million-euro grant from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development to restore energy infrastructure.
Belarus Summons Ukrainian Ambassador Over Missile Incident (4:20 p.m.)
Belarus’s Foreign Ministry summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym to voice protest against what the country’s authorities say was a launch of an air defense missile toward Belarus.
Minsk called on Ukraine to investigate Thursday’s missile launch, punish those responsible and apply measures to rule out such incidents in the future to avoid “catastrophic consequences”, according to a statement on Foreign Ministry website.
Kyiv has accused Belarus of allowing Russia to launch missiles from its territory. Russia has used Belarus as a staging point for its invasion, but Belarusian troops have so far stayed out of the war.
Belarus Says it Downed Missile Fired From Ukraine (1:55 p.m.)
Belarus said its air defenses shot down a Ukrainian S-300 missile that flew into its territory Thursday — a rare instance of the war spilling over the border into Russia’s ally, where an official downplayed the incident.
Missile debris fell near the village of Gorbakha in the Ivanovo region of southern Belarus near the border with Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said Thursday on Telegram.
“There is absolutely no reason for residents to worry,” the military commissar of the Brest region in Belarus said after the incident. “Such cases, unfortunately, happen.”
Italy’s Meloni to Visit Ukraine by End of February (2:05 p.m.)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is planning to visit Kyiv before the end of February to mark her support to Ukraine. A final date will only be confirmed when security conditions will allow for the planning of the visit, she said.
“We need to do all we can to support Ukraine but also to pursue peace possibilities,” she said at a news conference in Rome.
Putin, Xi to Hold Talks on Friday (12:15 p.m.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will discuss “the most pressing regional problems” during a video call planned for Friday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The two leaders are holding their end-of-year talks after Xi told former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week that China would like to see negotiations on Ukraine, adding that his administration was “actively promoting peace.” China has avoided criticizing Russia over the invasion, blaming the expansion of NATO. While Beijing signed off on a communique at last month’s Group of 20 summit in Indonesia that said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine,” China continues to refrain from calling it a war.
Kazakhstan Seeks Druzhba Capacity (12 p.m.)
Russia’s oil-pipeline operator Transneft PJSC said it received a request from its Kazakh counterpart to book capacity on the Druzhba pipeline for oil supplies to Germany next year.
That could be a first step toward Kazakh oil flowing to German refineries as the country tries to find alternatives to Russian crude. While pipeline supplies are exempted from European sanctions, Germany pledged to wean itself off Russia by the end of this year.
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Biden adviser calls Wall Street opposition to shale drilling ‘un-American’
The White House’s chief energy adviser has described as “un-American” the refusal of US shale investors to ramp up drilling, even as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine causes havoc on global oil and gas markets.
US oil groups have been under pressure from Wall Street to funnel record profits back to investors this year, despite repeated calls by President Joe Biden to pump more oil to help tame rampant inflation.
“I think that the idea that financiers would tell companies in the United States not to increase production and to buy back shares and increase dividends when the profits are at all-time highs is outrageous,” said Amos Hochstein, President Biden’s international energy envoy. “It is not only un-American, it is so unfair to the American public.
“You want to pay dividends, pay dividends. You want to pay shareholders, pay shareholders. You want to get bonuses, do that, too. You could do all of that and still invest more. We are asking you to increase production and seize the moment.”
Hochstein’s comments came just days after the twinned launch of an EU embargo on seaborne Russian oil imports and a G7 price cap on the country’s oil in an attempt by western powers to stymie the Kremlin’s income while keeping its crude flowing to the global market.
Moscow has repeatedly vowed not to sell oil to countries complying with the cap. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia would “even think . . . about a possible cut in production”.
Hochstein said the Kremlin remained a menace to a “highly volatile” oil market and noted that Russia had repeatedly weaponised energy, including shutting gas supplies to Germany this year.
“I think about that all the time,” he said, referring to the Russian threat to stop oil exports. “But that risk exists with or without the price cap.”
Oil prices have swung wildly this year, spiking after Russia’s invasion to almost $140 a barrel in March, prompting the White House to release crude stored in emergency stockpiles in a bid to cool inflation.
Prices have tumbled in recent days on fears of a global recession, with international benchmark Brent settling at a year-to-date low of $76.10 per barrel on Friday.
But further turmoil in global energy was likely, especially in Europe’s gas market, as the stand-off between Putin and the west deepened, Hochstein said.
While an “unprecedented” effort by the US and other liquefied natural gas exporters had left Europe adequately stocked with the fuel for this winter, the loss of Russian pipeline imports would mean repeating the effort “winter by winter”, Hochstein warned.
Extra global LNG supplies would not arrive until plants being built in the US and Qatar came online later this decade, meaning “the mountain to climb [to build] gas stockpiles for next year is much higher”.
“We are really preparing and living from an energy perspective, in Europe and beyond, in a hand to mouth, step by step [way],” Hochstein said.
The longer-term solution was not to invest in more natural gas supply but to cut consumption of fossil fuels themselves, argued Hochstein, a former LNG executive.
“We have to peak the demand [for hydrocarbons] and then shrink it from there,” Hochstein said.
The Biden adviser’s comments will spark a reaction in the US shale sector, which has complained about mixed signals from a White House that has called for more fossil fuel output while also talking of cutting demand and speeding up a shift away from oil and gas.
But Hochstein denied any contradiction, saying the US could “do two things at the very same time, ensuring we have enough [oil] supply for a strong global economy, while accelerating the energy transition”.
Oil would remain useful to the economy for several years, he said, adding that the Biden administration itself would become a major crude buyer to replenish a federal stockpile when US oil prices fell to about $70 a barrel.
Hochstein also criticised ExxonMobil’s $50bn share buyback scheme, announced last week — a payout chief executive Darren Woods recently described as returning some money “directly to the American people”.
“The only thing worse than announcing a share buyback, is to say that is how you’re giving profits back to the American people,” Hochstein said. “If you want to give back to the American people, invest in America, its workers . . . increase production, [make] the United States less dependent on other countries.”
Donald Trump Adviser Kash Patel Attacks Elon Musk’s ‘Moderation’ Approach On Twitter
Donald Trump adviser Kash Patel went after Elon Musk on Saturday after the Tesla CEO closed the deal to buy Twitter and fired top executives at the company earlier in the week. Patel accused Musk of being in favor of censorship while he promoted Truth Social. “Hey Elon, you know what doesn’t have a free speech jail, Truth Social,” the Trump adviser wrote, referring to a Musk tweet where the sink-carrying new Twitter owner said: “Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.” “Get on Board the freedom train with Dan Scavino, Devin Nunes, and Dan Bongino [a]n[d] Donald Trump,” Patel continued while adding, “TruthOverTweets.” But it didn’t stop there. “Oh good, more moderation—thanks Elon, but that’s the oppsoite [sic] of free speech.” Elsewhere, Patel told a fellow Truth Social user that they shouldn’t return to Twitter. “Don’t need the blue bird,” he said. Patel didn’t return The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Saturday. Patel—a MAGA-loving kid’s book author who believes Trump can stand over documents and declassify them with his mind—rose to prominence during the end of Trump’s tenure in office.
Allianz Chief Economic Adviser El-Erian believes core inflation ‘is still going up’
Ahead of the release of the latest consumer price index reading this week, Allianz Chief Economic Adviser Mohamed El-Erian told CBS’ “Face The Nation” Sunday that he predicts headline inflation “will probably come down to about 8%,” but that core inflation “is still going up.”
Core inflation is what measures the drivers of inflation and how broad they are, so El-Erian said an increase in core inflation means “we still have an inflation issue.”
Even if core inflation is still on the rise, however, El-Erian said it will eventually come down.
“The question is, does it come down with a slowdown in the economy or a major recession?” he said on “Face the Nation.”
The oil producer group OPEC+ announced its largest supply cut since 2020 on Wednesday, and El-Erian said this decision “does hurt the U.S.,” as it risks causing inflation to increase again. But he said the cut did not come as a surprise since the group is looking to protect oil prices in the face of declining demand.
“That’s what they do,” he said. “But it’s certainly not good news for the U.S. economy.”
FDA vaccine adviser says healthy young people SHOULDN’T get another COVID booster
A top vaccine expert and pediatric doctor is cautioning parents of healthy young people to hold off getting the new COVID booster shot, saying it can carry risks and its efficacy hasn’t yet been proven.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine Advisory Committee, said he’s not fully sold on the benefits of a third shot outweighing the harm.
‘Who really benefits from another dose?’ Offit said on CNN.
He did acknowledge that studies have shown people who are over 65, immuno-compromised or have a chronic ailments are less likely to be hospitalized with the virus if they’ve had a third or even fourth shot.
The newly developed dose, called a bivalent vaccine, is a cocktail of the original coronavirus strain combined with parts of the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. The hope being that people would be able to fight a broader range of more highly contagious virus mutations.
But writing in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, Offitt said preliminary data suggested the new bivalent vaccines were actually worse at warding off COVID infections than the first generation of shots.
He highlighted data comparing Moderna’s original COVID vaccine and its new bivalent update. Of a test group given both shots, 11 people who’d received bivalent vaccines contracted the virus, while just five people who received the original ‘monovalent’ shot caught COVID.
Offit warned that the Biden administration that ‘overselling’ the new bivalent vaccines without more data could ‘erode the public’s trust’ in them.
Dr. Paul Offit, right, cautions that there are still risks for healthy young people that should be considered before getting the COVID booster shot
Sean Bagley, 14, seen here, recently got the bivalent vaccine in Skippack Pharmacy in Schwenksville, Penn.
He explained that the FDA’s recent approval of a the new vaccine cooked up by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech comes with little assurances and some risks.
‘A healthy young person is unlikely to benefit from the extra dose,’ he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that vaccine side-effects, like myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis, an inflammation of the heart’s outer lining, are rare, but they most often occur in adolescents and young men.
Myocarditis can even be fatal, with young people far less likely to suffer a severe COVID infection than older people.
President Joe Biden declared the covid-19 pandemic is ‘over’ in an interview with CBS News
‘When you are asking people to get a vaccine, I think there has to be clear evidence of benefit,’ he said, adding that it’s unrealistic to have clinical trials of the latest dose. ‘You’d like to have, at least, human data,’ he said. So far, the only tests on the new shots have been done on lab mice.
‘Right now they’re saying we should trust mouse data,’ he said, ‘and I don’t think that should ever be true.’
Offit voted against approval of the new vaccine.
‘If there’s not clear evidence of benefit, then it’s not fair, I think, to ask people to take a risk no matter how small,’ Offit said.
The doctor recently cautioned that pushing the new shot without the supporting evidence risks ‘eroding the public’s trust.’
He said the studies regarding the bivalent vaccine so far were ‘underwhelming.’
The increased emphasis on boosters is at odds with President Joe Biden’s recent announcement that ‘the pandemic is over.’
‘The pandemic is over,’ Biden told 60 Minutes. ‘We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing.’
The president’s declaration runs counter with what his administration’s health officials have been saying.
‘We have a virus out there that’s still circulating, still killing hundreds of Americans every day,’ White House COVID-19 response coordinator, Ashish Jha, said at a September 9 press briefing.
‘I think we all as Americans have to pull together to try to protect Americans … and do what we can to get our health-care system through what might be a difficult fall and winter ahead.’
He also may have submarined his own $22.4 billion request to Congress to continue the fight against the virus.
There have been about 54,000 new cases of the virus on average over the last two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins University, with about 400 Americans succumbing to the virus every day.